Forget me not
by Valora Holmes
Summary: 'You take my place as I took yours.' Jess has a secret, a part of her life she tried to forget. Now a lost little girl threatens everything she holds dear.  Becker/Jess
1. Chapter 1

_**General Disclaimer: I do not own anything that belongs to Primeval.**_

_**Warning to the reader: There will be mention of relations of a sensitive nature, and character death towards the end.**_

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It was an early morning, and Jess was sat working away at the ADD. She was finishing up her paperwork from the day before. The anomaly had taken her energy from her; Jess had been busy making sure that everything ran smoothly, and she'd taken Connor and Abby home. She'd just abandoned the papers at the end of the day, preferring to be kind to her new guests rather than having them loiter around the ARC.

She expected to be the only one in for a few hours. She reckoned there were a few who were still to wake up. However she was to be proved wrong when a voice came from behind, "It's a bit early isn't it Jessica."

Jess jumped out of her skin. Turning in her chair she found Captain Becker stood there, dressed in his usual black, stern look dressing his face. "I could say the same for you, _Captain_."

He smirked. Taking the few steps that would bring them together; he leant down to Jess's level. "You could, but I'm always in early. Unlike you Miss Jessica." His face broke into a smile that sent a silent shiver through her.

She was stuck for words while he was so close. It was as if he was breathing her words away. She looked away quickly, before looking back. "Paperwork," was her only word.

"Paperwork." He nodded, "I'll leave you to get on with it." He turned and began to walk away.

"No." The word escaped Jess's lips before she could stop it.

He turned, "No what?" his smirk graced his lips.

"Um..." Was all she had. She swallowed as he started walking back. Under the light she noticed that his shirt was tight, and clung to every inch of his toned body.

"Was that a 'No, please help me with the paper work' or was that a, 'No, don't leave me'?" He was back beside her, breathing her words away once again. She nodded in reply, "So which is it _Jessica_?" he stressed every syllable of her name.

She swallowed once again. "No, don't leave me."

He pulled up a chair and sat with her. They just got talking and teasing, like they had on those first few days before Matt or anyone else turned up to break the peace. Jess was very happy, and the papers were left forgotten once again.

"Would you like to go to see that new film after work?" Becker asked, filling in a comfortable silence.

"Do you mean, as a date?" Jess asked carefully.

"If that's what you would like it to be." Becker replied; his eyes displayed just how uncomfortable he was.

"Yes." She answered, as the rest of the team entered.

"Yes what?" Matt asked.

"Nothing" Jess and Becker's words slipped out in chorus.

Matt gave them a funny look before walking to his desk.

The day at the ARC ended quickly. Abby and Connor took Jess's car to get home; Jess's excuse was she was staying back to do work, and she'd just grab a taxi.

Becker was waiting in his truck when Jess finally snuck out of work. He laughed as she wandered across the car park while watching out for anyone who might ask questions. He knew she was just trying to avoid the Spanish inquisition when she got home.

"Did you ever get that paperwork finished?" Becker asked as they pulled into the traffic.

"I did, instead of listening to Connor babble on about his system upgrades." She smiled.

He was quiet for a little while as the traffic around them moved and came to another stand still. "So you won't be in early tomorrow?"

"I might be." She turned in her seat so she was looking at him instead of facing out of the window. "There's always some work I can find to do." She saw him smile, "with all these procedures that Burton keeps implementing we'll be cataloguing each anomaly occurrence for weeks."

As they headed out of London city and towards the suburbs, Jess questioned where they were heading.

"The cinema's in the heart of the city get so busy. And I found this little one a few years back. Still shows all the big films, but there's some breathing room, like the second week a film's out and everyone who was desperate to see it already has." Becker replied.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." She smiled, none of her previous boyfriends had thought of that, but then she hadn't had one since lower sixth.

Becker pulled the truck into what looked like the driveway to a stately home. As they got closer, Jess noticed that it was an old home, and saw that the stables and stable yard had been converted into the car park.

He held out his hand to help her down from the truck, and didn't let go as they crossed the cobbles. Reaching the front doors Jess noticed that as soon as you stepped inside it stopped looking like the regency house, and started looking a bit more like the movie theatre.

Becker gave her the money to get two tickets, to 'anything you'd like' and he went for sweets, with the instruction of 'sweet popcorn not salted'.

"I must say thank you. I never knew this place existed and it's wonderful." Jess exclaimed as they got back to the truck.

"It was my pleasure, Miss Jessica." Becker replied, helping her back into the truck.

On the way back into London they chatted away, and got to know each other a bit more. As they passed through the suburbs, Becker pulled over and jumped out. Walking round he picked Jess from the truck, and carried her into the little café.

As he got coffee's Jess recognised where she was. She'd seen this café almost every day of her comprehensive school life. She remembered sitting at a table at the back, drinking fizzy pop and ice slushies, over her lunch break.

She was still in her little dream world when Becker arrived back, bringing chocolate cake too. "Nothing with orange." He reassured her.


	2. Chapter 2

When she got home, she couldn't help but feel that she and Becker had really managed to start something. All she hoped was that they could hold on to it. Walking into her flat, with a smile plastered across her face, she was met by a sleepy Connor.

He nodded and toddled back into the room he was sharing with Abby. Jess slipped into her room, and quickly got herself ready for bed. She was tired, but she had an early morning ahead of her; she couldn't leave Becker on his lonesome on a morning now, could she?

Once again she was out of the flat before the other two were even up, but instead of calling for the ARC to send transport for Abby and Connor, she left her keys and called Becker.

"Good Morning sunshine." He smiled down the phone.

"Is it too late to ask for a lift to work?" Jess asked.

"Not at all," he answered, "Just leaving my flat now. I'll be about fifteen minutes, give or take."

"I'll be in the coffee shop across the street."

"Alright, see you soon."

Jess walked into the shop with a smile on her face. She ordered her usual; or rather what had been her usual before she'd had to ferry Abby and Connor to and from work. She sat at the table by the window, with a coffee to go, but a blueberry muffin to eat in. Her baking was way better, but she didn't see the point when Connor would just eat them all.

She'd just polished off the muffin when Becker's truck pulled up outside. He hopped out and ran to the counter, before walking over to collect her from her table. The car ride was quiet while they enjoyed their coffee. They had been lucky that there had been no anomalies for a few days. Jess had quite liked not being woken at a godforsaken time in the morning to sort out a sparkly thing that let prehistoric creatures through.

They sat in the armoury that morning instead of sitting by Jess's computer. It didn't matter because they would hear if the alarms went off. Becker pulled a bar of chocolate from his desk drawer, and gave it to Jess. She smiled and said thank you, before breaking it in half and sharing it.

They talked happily while they were still alone in the ARC. "So any ex-boyfriend's I should know about?" Becker asked.

"Not really, last time I had a boyfriend I was in lower sixth. And he was only after one thing." Jess answered, "I got rid of him easily. The moment he realised he was dating a girl who'd been fast tracked to a degree he lost interest. Apparently I was just a bit of skirt he thought he could pull." She sighed and grabbed a bite of chocolate. "Daddy was quite happy I didn't stay with him. – a smile crossed her lips – what about you any ex's I need to be wary of?"

"No." He stated, "my ex fiancée was a long time ago, and I was moved up to special ops and had to move away. And I've been in the ARC long enough to know, that time has healed my wounds, and I shouldn't really care for hers. – he shuffled around – not that I'm heartless, just we had a painful history."

"It's okay. You don't need to talk about it." Jess walked over to him, and pulled him into a cuddle. "We all have skeletons in the closet. Some more painful than others." She held him tighter for a moment before moving away.

He smiled at her, and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I think we'd better be getting to work."

She grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before skipping off to her supercomputer. He watched her go and wondered how she managed to walk, never mind skip in her heels.

Jess continued going in early on a morning, and having her conversations and cuddles with Becker. By the end of the week he managed to be outside her building waiting with coffee. They had managed to go through their embarrassing stories, and some of the just plain funny ones; and had by now reached what they wanted from their futures.

"Being honest, I'm not sure." Becker had answered, "I'd always thought that at some point I'd settle down, and have a family. But I never found the right woman, I thought I had once, but it turned out I was being pulled along by a dream and not reality. What about you?"

"I want to have the nice husband, nice house, two kids malarkey in the future. But I'm not sure about it. My grandma always told me that if I wanted to get anywhere I had to, before life slowed me down; she also warned me not to end up an old spinster like aunty June, but that's something else." She cuddled into Becker, "the future's so complex, and I'm quite happy in the here and now."

"Well, you're only nineteen Jess, you've got so many years ahead of you." Becker stated.

"So have you. You're not forty yet and living the midlife crisis." Jess teased.

Their moment was broken by an anomaly alert. "I'll phone the others, you find out where it is." Becker said, kissing her cheek sweetly; it was still really early in the morning so most of them would still be in bed.

Jess and Becker never got to finish their conversation, the whole day was busy with trying to make sure that the anomaly was sorted and that no one was hurt. The only tough bit was when they discovered that there was one last little creature left after the anomaly had closed. Abby was happy to adopt it, just a harmless baby bird thing from some period or another. Jess found that the only one that she could really stand was Rex, because he was cute and somewhat housetrained.

Jess slept through Abby and Connor going to work and the Postman delivering his mail. She awoke when she heard a terrible wailing coming from near her front door. Grabbing her dressing gown she went to go and investigate.

There just outside was a large box, the kind used when moving house. It was sealed with parcel tape and was crying. Using her door key, Jess slit the tape and a child bounced out. Not having a clue what to do she ushered the child and the box into the flat.

"Sit here. Don't touch anything." Pointing to the sofa she spoke the little girl before heading off to get dressed.

_The room was full, yet Bessie couldn't keep her mouth shut. The whole of the common room went quiet when the singing began, and everyone turned to look._

_"Happieeeee Birthdaay tooo yoooooooou," Bessie sang, her voice wavering as she obviously tried to sing through her drunken stupor._

_Staying stock still Jip just watched as her best friend embarrassed them both. Bessie had a reputation for being tipsy in school, and wasn't the best behaved, but she achieved so was given all the chances under the sun. Jip was just as bright, only she was the more conservative of the two._

_Jip was finally confronted by the singing drunk, and handed a badly wrapped gift. "For my best mate." Bessie smiled widely, looking a bit demented._

_It didn't take much from Jip to unwrap the gift and cringe. She gave a small smile to Bessie, "Thanks, but why?" she whispered, dropping the gift hurriedly into her bag._

_Her voice was a little louder than necessary, and her sense more than a little tainted, due to the alcohol in her system, "Cause, if you're not gettin' any, you gotta help yourself," she winked, and the whole common room collapsed into an onslaught of laugher._


	3. Chapter 3

Jess was left with the problem of how to deal with the little girl. She was only about three years old, with locks of hair the colour of ebony. Jess had been making coffee wondering what on earth to do when the little girl had come along with a letter.

**Dear Jessica**, it read.

**I know this will be difficult on you, but it's tough for me too. This is Izzie, and I expect you to look after her just like you promised. I hope that for the next few days you manage to connect.**

**Can I ask that you don't just fob her off to some nursery school, she needs the only other person who we can really trust. I know that you're probably in the middle of your degree right now, but I've told Izzie that she's not to be any trouble.**

**Yours**

**Elizabeth Badby.**

She wandered towards the sofa and dropped. Izzie jumped up beside her. Jess knew exactly who she was now; this just wasn't any child dropped on her doorstep, but she couldn't really trust anybody with the secret.

After her coffee, Jess placed Izzie's stuff in the spare room, "We're going to sort it when we get back." She'd said. Jess walked out of her flat, Izzie balanced on her hip, and her bag carried on the other shoulder. The ride to the ARC was painful. Izzie couldn't keep her mouth shut with questions that Jess just couldn't answer, and when Izzie did stop Jess bribed her with sweets to keep her quiet.

Carrying a child into the ARC wasn't the easiest thing. Jess managed to get passed security, and then through all of the coded doors. Reaching her locker, she put Izzie down and threw all of her stuff in. She was only meant to have the morning off; it was a deal with Lester, she was allowed the morning to recuperate from all the early mornings and late nights that she'd been forced to do with all the extra paper work. But now she was late.

She and Izzie made it to Jess' station before anything major happened. After some searching jess found some paper and pens for Izzie to sit drawing with. The little girl found a space on the floor near to where Jess was working, but out of the way of everyone else, and Jess got on with her job. Both Burton's stern look and Lester's questioning gaze went unnoticed by the pair.

"Becker?" Connor asked as he walked into the armoury.

"What?" was the reply, Becker was bent over the table cleaning up one of the EMDs.

"Did you know Jess' got a little girl?" At Connor's comment Becker stood up straight, like someone had shot him in the behind with an EMD.

"No, I didn't." Becker seemed lost in thought, as if wondering whether Jess had just slipped it in dry conversation, a small comment maybe that he'd overlooked. "She's never mentioned it."

"I'd have just thought that you'd have known, you being closest to her an' all." Connor changed the topic, sensing questions in the air. "So how are you managing without your bullets, Becker?"

"I'm doing just fine." He answered. "And what do you mean about me being closest to her. You share the flat. Wouldn't you have noticed a little girl running around." Connor walked out, with nothing left to say; leaving Becker to deliberate in peace.

Burton had spoken to Lester. Something of a "sort your staff out before I do" talk. And now Lester was stuck with what to do. He rather liked Jess and didn't really want to fire her, because who knows whether they'd find a replacement that could stand up next to her. Also the child looked so peaceful amongst the strangers of the ARC that he worried for it.

Lester decided that it was best to let the pair do their own thing for a little bit, and if Jess looked like she was struggling he would step in. He might look like an unlovable git, but his nieces would all disagree.

After mulling over the subject a little more, he decided to leave Jess to it for the day; it could be that this was just a one off, one that would _never_ happen again. If the child was still around tomorrow he'd put some thought into how he could deal with it.

Becker had kept a watch over his favourite girl. As soon as he had walked through the main operations room, he had noticed that there was a little girl sat on the floor beside Jess. His mind registered the similarities; the little girl looked like a miniature version of his Jess. Though he couldn't see any sort of bond between the pair; it was almost as if they had just been thrown together that morning.


	4. Chapter 4

_Jip felt somewhat abandoned, she'd entered the pub on her boyfriend's arm, and had been with her best friend._

_The now ex-boyfriend, had left her as soon as he had seen the trashy blonde at the bar; she had to have been nearly thirty, but if __**that**__ was what he was after, then Jip wanted no more to do with him. She'd sent him a text message a little later in the evening when he'd had his tongue, quite securely down the tart's throat._

_Bessie, her best mate, had stayed around a while, but she'd gone off to the ladies and just never reappeared. Jip had taken her drink to the end of the bar so that she could be out of everyone's way. She didn't like being in the Pub on her own, she knew full well that she was underage, and so did the bar man, but he being Bessie's uncle he was happy to serve the pair; it was all money in his pocket._

_Jip finished her drink and headed outside. It was so much quieter out here. She lit a cigarette and leaned against the wall. At least that was one thing that she wasn't breaking the law to do. She enjoyed the way that the nicotine calmed her nerves, and the way that she could breathe pretty shapes out into the warm night._

_Her peace was disturbed by huffs and puffs. She heard a moaning and groaning coming from the alley way. Worried that someone was in trouble, Jip went to investigate. There in the shadows was Bessie, pinned to the wall by some blokes prick._

_They were both so lost in their quick fuck that they didn't notice Jip arrive or leave. Bessie wasn't the happiest, she felt the need to be screwed by the guy who had chatted her up; but now wished that she'd turned him down. The bricks behind her were scaring her back and had evaporated her arousal, knowing that the dickhead who was groaning in pleasure wouldn't have the stamina to last much longer she took the initiative. She faked her orgasm, and just waited for the freak to finish._

_Jip had flagged down a taxi, she knew that Bessie would do one of two things. Go back into the pub looking for her, or she'd go back into the pub and head out back with a bottle of Jack to erase the memory from her mind. As she saw the familiar streets of home, Jip sent Bessie a text, telling her that she'd had enough of the penis that was her ex, and had gone home to lick her wounds; Bessie would understand._

Jess had spent the morning looking after Izzie, and checking government records for any trace of Izzie's mother. She gave up at eleven and took Izzie into the break room. They had snacks, and an idea came to Jess.

On their way back to main operations room, Jess stopped off in one of the safe rooms. She had noticed that Izzie was tired, so tucked her into the bed and told her to just head back towards the main room when she woke up.

Getting back to her computer Jess set up the CCTV feed so that she could keep an eye on Izzie. Thinking back through her history, Jess located the last memory that she had of Elizabeth's address. Starting there Jess tracked Elizabeth through the system. It took a few hours, but eventually Jess had a contact number. Knowing that it would probably be useless to try the address, if Izzie was here then Elizabeth wouldn't be home.

Jess took a little break and headed outside. She grabbed her mobile and called the number.

Abby wandered past the ADD and noticed that there was a CCTV link to a room in the ARC. She saw the little girl putting her shoes on, it looked like she'd been asleep. Abby decided she'd run and get the little girl, if Jess couldn't be a competent mother then there was no reason for the child to suffer.

The phone was ringing, and Jess took this as a good sign. She waited until someone answered, not caring that it had gone to voicemail twice, she'd called the number again. Third time's the charm.

Someone picked up on the other end, and sounded a little gruff, but not hung over.

"Elizabeth?" Jess asked. The grunt from the other end was an affirmative.

"What the hell did you do? Why is Izzie with me?"

After pausing to listen Jess let it all out, "I don't' care. She's your daughter, not mine. What do you expect me to tell her? If you leave her behind I'll tell her the whole truth, I'm not going to keep your secrets anymore. You've got to take responsibility. Izzie's not even four yet, and you've given up on her. She's got so much potential, and all you're doing is pouring it down the drain."

"If you want, I'll help you find her father. That way she can have a proper daddy, and you can share her between the two of you."

"You could have always sent her to your mother. I'm sure she'd have taken her."

"Don't you dare…." Jess spat, finishing in a hopeless whisper, "hang up on me."

Izzie was happy eating Oreo's and playing with Rex in the menagerie. Abby busied doing her jobs, preparing the feed for the other animals while keeping an eye on the pair. She loved watching the little girl smile. It was quite a thing that this girl had been in the flat for a whole day and no one had noticed her.

Abby's thoughts were disturbed when Jess skidded through the door. Her scared face relaxed into a smile when she saw Izzie with Rex. Seeing that it was a good time to get Jess alone for a chat, Abby took her into the other part of the menagerie. Jess explained all that she could, she opened her heart to Abby, and refused to let herself cry.

The two shook hands and Abby agreed to help Jess keep the secret. Abby understood what Jess was doing and offered to help. The two could keep Izzie occupied, while Jess tried to get Izzie's mother to come and collect her, and Abby keep Izzie secret from the others.


	5. Chapter 5

Jess had been stroppy that morning, when Becker had refused to talk to her more than necessary. So Abby stepped in offering her and Connor's babysitting skills. It took less than a minute for Jess to agree, she needed to patch things up with Becker. She missed him, and if they were ever going to have anything more than an office fling, Jess really needed to fix things.

After work Jess picked up Chinese and headed to where Becker was staking out Ethan's hide out. Emily was safe with Matt now, which made a lot of people happy.

Seeing Becker in the car, she strode up to him and knocked on the window. He didn't look too pleased to see her.

"This is a stake out, Jess."

She offered him some of the take out, and answered affirmative when he asked whether she had prawn crackers. They shared the meal and kept a watch over the screens. Becker was a little hesitant to broach the topic of the child, but knew that if they were ever going to get over this hurdle he had to ask.

"Jess, who's the little girl?" he asked tentatively.

"She's called Izzie. She arrived at my front door in a cardboard box, carrying a letter from an old acquaintance of mine. I'm trying to sort things out, and get her back home, but I have no idea what to do with her."

"Why didn't you let me in?"

"Because I didn't know how to. I had no choice but to bring her to work with me on that first day. And then I didn't want to leave her anywhere just in case someone took her away. I'm so confused; this is why I ran away."

Becker could see that she was close to tears, so pulled her into a cuddle, and just dropped the topic. He sensed that she would tell him when she felt she could. It was something that ran much deeper than the appearance of Izzie.

_Bessie had been leaving her exam when the baby started coming. Jip was at her side in seconds. The two of them had been carted off to the hospital, and now Jip was sat with her best friend, waiting for the midwife to say it was time._

_It was such a scary experience. Jip was happy that she had managed to finish her exam, and was now worried about her friend. If the two had collided she had no idea how she would have coped. Bessie wasn't demanding as of yet, but she'd been quite hormonal. It took a skilled person to judge her mood swings._

_It was midnight, and Bessie was tugging Jip's hand from her wrist. "One last push." The midwife called over Bessie's screeching. For Jip it was all a blur, she was tired, and nowhere near conscious enough to know what was going on._

"_Congratulations, you've a beautiful baby girl."_

Becker woke up to see Ethan staring at him on the monitor. He rubbed his eyes quickly and pushed Jess back into her seat. He pulled one of the EMD's from the backseat and told Jess to call for backup.

Stalking the room, he couldn't see any sign of Ethan, but knocked a trip wire with his foot. He moved before he could break it, and kept on into the darkness. He stopped when his foot stepped onto something, which released something rather heavy falling towards him. Dropping the EMD he caught the object and stayed very still, hoping not to upset the pressure pad, and praying that backup would be coming soon.

Jess couldn't wait any longer for the promised men. Her Becker was in trouble, and she was the only one here to help. Noticing the spare EMD in the back, she grabbed it and headed up to the space where she knew Becker was.

Stepping carefully into the room she noticed Becker crouched near the floor. Not realising who it was Becker called out, "be careful of the trip wire."

Jess came into his view. He told her about the pressure pad, and what he suspected to be an explosive device. Against his wishes Jess walked over to it and pulled off the cover revealing Becker's suspicions to be correct. He told her to leave, but put it to Jess to be stubborn.

"I'm not leaving you." She walked over to it. "Tell me what to do Becker."

She followed his instructions and opened the box on the back, it sparked a little and she jumped back. Becker telling her once again to leave, her response a resounding 'No'.

Becker told her to cut the red wire. Jess could see two red wires. "Come on, you can do this." She whispered to herself, deciding on which wire she would cut.

When she realised that she hadn't blown them to smithereens, she rejoiced. The two of them headed back out towards the pickup truck in hopes that the backup would be arriving to secure the scene.

Abby was driving while Connor and Izzie sat in the back. They were on their way back from Jenny's wedding. It had coincided with an anomaly, and Abby had promised Jess that she would keep Izzie safe and protected, which had meant for the majority of the monster hunting Izzie had stayed with Jenny and Emily; though Izzie had taken a liking to staying with Connor through the course of the wedding.

Now it was Abby who was keeping her two favourite people safe. They'd fallen asleep in the back, Connor looked so much like a doting father, and Izzie just looked content with her cuddle. It made Abby wonder if one day Connor would be 'Daddy' and if she'd be the one who was 'mummy'. The idea seemed to stick with her all the way back to the ARC; she'd never been very good with children, always better with animals, though she'd managed to make headway with Izzie; maybe Izzie was special.

Upon their arrival back in the ARC, Becker kissed her. He knew that he would help Jess anyway he could; there was a connection between them and he only hoped it would grow. Before heading back to the armoury, he detoured to Jess's side.

"You were brilliant." He murmured. He saw her smile. "And if you need any help with Izzie, just ask."


	6. Chapter 6

It had been a month since Izzie had been dropped on her doorstep, and Jess still felt no further forward when it came to looking after her. She'd tried everything but Izzie still kept asking when her mummy was coming home. All Jess could do was answer that she didn't know; and it wasn't a nice position for Jess to be in, she felt like she was holding Izzie captive, and she wanted to be able to give the girl answers.

She'd consulted every book that she could find and still came out with nothing. It was beginning to worry her. And now everyday she was cautious of Lester or Burton, just in case they were going to report her to social services or worse the police. Jess wanted Elizabeth to come back and collect her baby, but it just wasn't the case.

Becker had noticed just how stressed out Jess was getting over the whole thing. Calling on Abby, he asked her to take Izzie out to the park on the Saturday so he could take Jess out for coffee. Abby wasn't a mind reader, but she knew what Becker was doing; she'd seen Jess become a shadow of her former self, trying to balance work, Izzie and looking for Elizabeth. She welcomed anything to get her friend back.

Becker managed to talk Jess into coming with him. He figured that it was best to try and help her now before she came crawling to him for it, and it being too late.

Izzie was having fun in the park. She and Abby were swinging together while they'd sent Connor off to get them ice creams. It was another one of those days when Abby was feeling a little strange; she began to wonder what would happen to Izzie. Jess couldn't keep her forever, and Izzie would either go back to her mother, or there would be something else, most likely social services. Abby didn't want to see the adorable little girl go into the care system, she wouldn't come out the same girl who went in.

They'd just gotten back to the flat, and Jess didn't quite want her day with Becker to end, so she invited him in. They sat down with a glass of wine and a cheesy movie. Just as the credit's rolled, Becker had the need to tell Jess everything. He felt it was time to lay his cards on the table, and let Jess decide if she wanted to keep him rather than have her clinging on to a dream of what she thought he was.

"Jess, I want to be honest with you."

She looked at him as if to say 'what do you mean'.

"I want to tell you my story, the bit you didn't read in the file,"

Jess sat up, and crossed her legs. She perched at one side of the sofa looking attentive. And Becker did the same on the other side.

"Can I ask that you don't interrupt Jess?" She nodded in reply so he began, "As you already know I was a soldier on the front line. I served two tours in Afghanistan. And on coming home from the second I was taken into Special Forces; barely finishing the training before I was shipped into the ARC to protect the men and women who were doing such a brilliant job on the home front.

"When I left for the first tour I was engaged to an adorable woman; she was everything that I thought I wanted. About two months into my tour, I received a letter, it was a little late in getting to me, but it arrived none the less.  
"She told me she was carrying my baby. And I was so happy. I did everything I could while I was out there to be prepared to be a dad not long after I got home. I put up with the teasing of the guys, and I shared the happy moments of my brothers and sisters when they learned their children were doing well; Johnny was over the moon when he heard that his baby girl had been accepted into Oxford, he was so proud. And Kelly, she broke down in tears when her husband wrote to tell her that her son had taken his first steps, she was so upset that she'd missed it.

"I got home, and was expecting to see my fiancée heavily pregnant and glowing. Instead I found her in the same condition she was in when I left, only she was glowing with Diamonds. She told me that she'd had a miscarriage not long after sending the letter, and couldn't bring herself to tell me. She'd spent the savings she'd had for the baby on her diamonds, and that she was finally happy again.

"I'd only been home a month when I overheard some of the men from another regiment talking about the 'blonde bird' they'd been fooling around with, while her other half was out on service. I thought nothing of it, until I found one of them in my bed.  
"My ex hadn't had a miscarriage, she'd been an escort. And she'd been doing her job while I was home, and even more while I was away, which explained where her money was coming from. We'd been high school sweet hearts, so I knew that she had to have been working somehow, because there was no way that it was her parents that were supporting her.  
"I was called up to go back out. So I contacted my parents to deal with her. When I got home all there was were some solicitor's papers to say that I was signing over the flat, and that she was to have nothing else to do with me. My mother and sisters did a very good job of getting all my things back." He paused. "I swore to my mother that I would never put her through anything else like that. She'd been expecting a little Becker, and when she heard it had all been a lie, it nearly killed her. I want to be honest with you Jess, because I love you. But I'm not going to stand in your way if you don't want to deal with the emotional baggage."

Jess was silent for a few moments taking everything in, before she flung herself at Becker. "I love you too." She whispered to him. "Whatever baggage you have, mine's not much better."

He held her too him, "You don't have to tell me, sweet heart. When you're ready it'll be right."

Abby and Connor got back from the park with a sleeping Izzie to find Becker and Jess asleep on the sofa, the menu screen from their DVD still playing. Abby put Izzie to bed while Connor cleaned up around the sleeping adults.

Connor couldn't help but notice how in love they looked. He hoped that he and Abby looked like that.

It was Monday, the start of a new week. Jess decided that this was the best time to implement a new strategy. Taking Becker's advice, she was going to make the flat feel more like a home. She made Izzie breakfast, and they waited for Connor and Abby.

Once everyone was awake Jess decided it was time for her announcement. "Okay, we are going to have a new initiative. Every Monday, Thursday and Sunday we are going to have a 'family' meal. Monday and Thursday's menus are up for discussion, but Sunday we are going to have a proper dinner. Agreed?"

Izzie smiled, but all eyes were on Connor, who had lit up like a Christmas tree, and was nodding his head like the toy dogs on the parcel shelf of a hatchback.


	7. Chapter 7

Burton had found time to have another not so friendly chat with Lester. He wasn't happy about having the child about the ARC, and ordered Lester to do something about it.

Lester figured that he might as well set away a long running investigation. He'd been tracking Jess and what she was up to; and realised that she was looking for somebody. He was clever enough to realise that it was not best to interrupt her, and he couldn't fire her over it; she knew too much, and it would cost the ARC too much, where on earth would he find another Jessica.

Matt was already in trouble for the Emily incident. This, as Lester saw it, was the final stage to Matt redeeming himself; the other bit was finding the girl. As it was, Matt found himself in Lester's office, being signalled to turn off his communications device.

"I want you to find out everything you can about Jess and the child. Do it covertly." Lester said, not looking up from his paper work, "I want Philip off my back, but I don't want anybody to get hurt. There are too many people who are irreplaceable, and an all too trigger happy boss, who'll fire anyone who goes against his ethos."

"And why me?"

"You're already in trouble because you lost Emily. Think of it as your community sentence. The first bit was finding her and getting her here, now this is the payback for causing me stress." Lester dismissed him with a wave of the hand. "And close the door on the way out."

Matt's first stop was Connor. He hoped that the trusting computer geek would open up and spill all. Saving everybody hassle and meaning that Matt could get back to looking after Emily. It didn't take long to locate the computer geek; he was in his office working on more gadgets that would help them, most recently it had been some form of dating device so that they could find out where the anomalies led.

"How's that thing going?" Matt asked.

"It's doing fine, I want to test it on the next anomaly though, - Connor paused for a second – what are you doing here? It's not normal."

"Fine, I've been sent so we can keep the peace." Matt answered, "what do you know about the little girl?"

"She's called Izzie, her favourite food is chips, and she keeps calling Jess 'aunty'…" he was cut short by the entrance of Abby.

"And other than that nothing," she finished.

Matt turned on her, "You must know some more, you're with Izzie nearly every day."

"If I do I shan't be telling. You'll have to walk over my grave first; it's Jess's story to tell. I will tell you though; she's trying to sort it out as fast as she can, so she doesn't have to tell you all."

Becker was just as easy to find. He was in the armoury with the EMDs, though it was still very obvious that he preferred his guns and bullets. Matt wasted no time on this one; he knew that there was no point trying to skirt around the truth, and Abby was probably telling Jess that he was snooping around anyway.

"Becker could I borrow you for a short while?" his irish accent once again twanging in his words; no matter what era he was from that accent had stayed iconic.

Becker looked up and nodded, "talk, I just need to finish up the checks."

"Lester has given me the task of investigating. Burton isn't too happy about your girlfriend bringing Izzie into work, and Lester wants to make it look like he's doing something about it." Matt paused.

"And that has to do with me why?"

"Because, you know Lester isn't the cold hearted swine all the way through. And he wants to help if he can. So I'm here to ask what you know about Izzie, do you know whether she's any relation to Jess, or how Jess became guardian of the child."

"Not a thing. That little girl has had a tough time, and Jess is struggling to get her to settle. I haven't much else other than that Jess is looking for somebody, god knows who, and she's starting to get a bit paranoid about things, and I don't think it's anything to do with Ethan." Becker answered, going back to the routine checks, "Don't ask Jess, it'll set her off again, and from Abby's account of last time, we don't want to be picking up those pieces."

Matt found himself back in the main operations room with basically nothing, with no reason to report to Lester, him having found nothing he set about the papers left cluttered across his desk. Quickly finding that he had no motivation for his paper work he left to find Emily. He'd twist a few arms to take her out for coffee, or tea in her case.


	8. Chapter 8

The anomaly was at a school this time, and Jess sent the boys. They'd call in back up if they needed it, and Abby seemed to be wrapped up with caring for some of the animals, which put her out of action.

Emily was wandering around feeling useless, she'd delivered papers to offices, and that had been followed by doses of tea and coffee being delivered to the same offices. She'd seen a little girl running around, but had yet to place where she'd come from.

Izzie was with Abby. Some of the smaller animals had gotten ill; Abby was fairly sure it was just a mutation of the common cold, most of the creatures had never previously had human contact, and right now there were a few people carrying the lingering winter colds who'd paid visits to her in the menagerie. The pair worked carefully. Izzie bringing the fruit and vegetables to Abby one by one, while Abby got rid of the little bits that weren't good to eat, and cut some of them up into smaller things.

Jess was trying to hack into the CCTV of the school, and into the security system but was having a tough job, it was like someone had already hacked into it from the inside. While she was directing Becker and Matt in their quest for the students she was feeding a floor plan to Connor so that he would find the security office and give her some more access.

She didn't realise just how shocking her job could be. Watching the girl being dragged from the gym apparatus, and being pulled under the stands by a Therocephalian hurt her heart. She thought of a grown up Izzie, and how it could be her. Jess stopped shocked until voices came bouncing through the comms and she set to work again.

Abby had taken Izzie out onto the landing. They'd fed the mammoth, and had put some more water out of it. It was a huge room they were kept in but they still needed looking after like pets. Abby had added some vitamin supplements to the water to help boost the creatures' immune systems. Izzie had had fun, she'd laughed when the mammoth prodded her with his trunk; she'd listened to Abby when she was told he was friendly, not like the scared Jess.

After feeding the bigger animals and leaving things out for the flying birds Abby took Izzie down to the bottom level of the menagerie. There they refilled the food boxes, and Abby let Izzie play with some of the friendlier creatures; Izzie sat back behind the bullet proof glass while Abby gave some of the creatures their medicine, for some reason to Izzie, Abby looked like Snow-White, with all the creatures crowding around her while she fed them.

When the boys came back, Jess was scared still. Becker, her Becker was being carried back on a stretcher and looking so pale he could have been mistaken for a corpse. It was Matt who held her back, telling her that the medical bay was 'no place for hysterics' and he held her tight while she cried out all her worry.

Matt had to promise that he'd keep a check on the Captain, and that as soon as he was release he'd send for her. Jess took her seat back at the computer and worried some more.

In her hysterics, she'd forgotten all about Izzie. That was until she'd heard from Abby that Becker had been placed on forced medical leave and was out of action for two weeks, and possibly further time on desk duty until he was cleared for active service in the field.

She found him changing into some of his civilian clothes. She'd never really seen him out of uniform before, though she'd imagined it so many times before. Her man, just looking like the rest of the world.

Jess offered to let him stay at her flat, there'd be room if she took the sofa, but he'd declined. He'd said that he didn't want to disrupt everybody. She didn't mind, just wanted to make sure that he was okay; there was no point arguing with the soldier.

It wasn't long before Matt found Jess stressing over a very simple piece of paper work. "What's wrong?"

"It's Izzie. Now Abby is needed for active service, there'll only be me around here looking after her, how will I manage that? The anomalies are getting more frequent, and Burton is piling on the paperwork."

"I'll talk to Emily, she was great at looking after her at the wedding, and she could do with something proper to do. I'm not saying you have to agree, but if Emily is up for it then the offer is there."

Abby couldn't quite comprehend that her friend was considering turning down the help that was being offered, but in a way she could understand Jess's reasons.

"So don't tell her. Just have Emily look after Izzie; she doesn't have to know everything." Abby suggested.

Jess started overthinking again, so Abby put a stop to it. "You either take the help that's offered or give her over to the services. You can't wait for your friend forever."

"I know, I just don't want to put her in any more danger."

Izzie wasn't sure what was going on. But Aunty Jess was introducing her to a new lady, Emily. They'd met at Jenny's wedding, so Izzie didn't quite understand her Aunt's reasoning for it. After Jess was finally sure that Emily could look after Izzie properly, she let them go.

Jess had a tough time getting on with her work. She was caught up between worrying about Becker surviving with his injuries, and trying not to check up on Izzie and Emily like she was tempted to. The team managed to get by, there wasn't anything too big, or too difficult to handle.

Some of the newer recruits were taking the mickey out of their superior; making it known that they didn't think that Captain Becker was worthy of his status if he managed to get taken down by 'an ickle dinosaur'. Jess had to bite her tongue, it wasn't her place to defend him, and only Abby and Connor knew about their relationship.

Becker had been on leave for a few days, and Jess had missed him. She had been considering going to visit him on her lunch break; but Burton had made it known that he wanted her to help Connor upgrade the computer systems. Connor has said that he didn't mind if Jess escaped for an hour or two, but Philip Burton was clever; he'd placed one of his trusted lab technicians with them; just to make sure they were doing as they were told.

Jess was packing up for the evening when she received a phone call. It'd been a tough day, and she considered ignoring it, they'd leave a voicemail if they were desperate to talk to her. Then she saw the caller ID.

"Hello sweetheart." She smiled, it was nice to hear from him, her smile didn't last long.

"_We __**need**__ to talk._"

_Jip had hoped her friend wasn't coming down with something. There were always tummy bugs going around the college, and Jip was particularly susceptible to them. Bessie had pulled Jip to the side on the way to class; it wasn't usual for them to cut class, but it wasn't ever noticed when they did._

"_You know when I saved your skin?"_

_Jip nodded._

"_We'll now you've got to help me. That creep's got me preggers." Bessie whispered. "You know I can't get rid of it. It's murder."_

_Jip was shocked into silence. She knew that Bessie had saved her from a terrible fate. And now there was this. It wasn't religion that stopped the easy way out; it was just Bessie. When she believed something, there was no way it would change._

"_I'm going to be here for you through all of it." Jip promised, "I'll always be here to help."_


	9. Chapter 9

Abby and Connor went home. While Jess took Izzie, and together they went to visit Becker. His flat wasn't that far from the ARC, just a bit further away than Jess's. Jess worried the whole way, while Izzie talked her ears off about her day with Emily. All the finger painting, and the toys they'd made with paper. Who knew that Emily was an expert in origami? Jess didn't.

Becker opened the door and let them in. He nodded to the kitchen, so Jess set Izzie down on the living room floor, "why don't you play with your dinosaurs for a while?"

She stood at the door and watched as Becker made two cups of coffee.

"I need to know Jessica. I can't stand all of these secrets anymore. I'll help you with anything, just stop shutting me out." He said as he passed her the cup and saucer.

Jess took a seat at the breakfast bar and began her tale.

Connor was shocked when he was asked to help carry suitcases into the flat that morning. Apparently Becker was coming to stay. "We're going to get along fine." Jess had reassured them.

She moved some of her clothes into the room Izzie was borrowing. There were two single beds, and a mass of space. Izzie was happy, she'd have someone to read her stories into the middle of the night. While everyone helped move Becker into Jess's room. The sofa would have been an option for Jess if Connor hadn't managed to cover it in red wine.

That night there were five places set out at the dining table. Becker was given the place at the head of the table as he was the guest. Connor, Becker and Izzie had been banned from the kitchen as dinner was prepared, but when it was served their eyes all went wide at the mass of food.

Dinner was a quiet affair, everybody was quiet. Connor's questions were muted by the food he was shovelling into his mouth. Becker was contemplative, just as he had been since the discussion the previous night. Abby was busy chatting with Izzie about their day in the ARC; it had been another day of Abby running around looking after dinosaurs, and Izzie had enjoyed being with Emily.

Izzie had come home with cake. She and Emily had taken over a small part of the kitchen. The Head Chef hadn't wanted them, until he tasted Emily's Victoria Sponge. They spent the day baking; almost everybody who bought lunch had taken some of the cake. Emily had made sure that there was one left for Izzie to bring home.

Izzie went to bed early. She was asleep on her feet after the game of snakes and ladders with Connor. Connor and Abby turned in about the same time claiming they had an early start. So Becker and Jess were the only ones left.

At eleven Becker flicked the TV over to the news. Jess didn't mind. It was good to keep up with what was going on around them. The first article was that there had been a woman found in Brighton. She had yet to be identified, but she'd been found hanging from the top floor banister. There was a picture of the woman shown; Jess's breath caught in her throat.

It was a tough morning. Jess kept unusually quiet, her colours were toned down to dark pastels, and her shoes were flat. Everybody could tell that something was up. Becker made Jess take Izzie to the ARC, his argument was that he'd love to look after her, but there was too much of a chance that Izzie caught sight of her mother on the news if she stayed home. Becker had promised that he was making desert for that night.

Jess stayed quiet, being useful, trying not to be a nuisance. She couldn't quite comprehend what had happened. It was at lunch when she received a text message that it began to sink in: '_A letter arrived for U. Postmarked from B'ton, a few days ago_.'

Escaping the ARC was the least thing that she had to worry about. She was worried about the letter. She knew nobody in Brighton, only Elizabeth.

Becker must have been at the shop when she got back. It was a good thing in Jess's mind. She didn't want anyone to witness her going to pieces. It had to be Elizabeth, so it was going to be bad.

_**Dear Jessica**_

_**Izzie is yours. You take my place as I took yours.**_

_**EB**_


	10. Chapter 10

_The church had been full for the Sunday service, yet it had emptied quickly._

_Jip had attended the service with her mother as a final goodbye; she was moving out and going to live with her father as the divorce had been finally settled, the court had allowed that Jip was the only person who could decide which parent would get custody, and whether she wanted contact with the other. It had been the Friday previous that she had told the court that she would live with her father and she would prefer it if she only had minimum contact with her mother. And so the final element had been decided._

_Bessie and Baby were at the service. They were sat across the church from old Mrs Badby. Baby had caused the feud, and there was no way that Bessie would be the one to take the first step when her mother had offended her so much._

_When it came round to the Christening, Jip's mother stayed, along with Old Mrs Badby. They were quiet as Father Richards christened Jip so that she could become Baby's godmother. It was a step into her new life. Jip would grow up, and take responsibility when it was needed and she'd leave her controlling mother behind. She promised that she would be a good God-mother, but it was going to be a tough promise to keep._

_Baby was held in the arms of Father Richards, and he poured the holy water over her head, 'In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…'_

_As the group left the church he watched as they all went their different ways. Jip's mother walked into the cemetery, taking the short cut home, visiting her mother on her way. Mrs Badby walked straight out of the gates and was out of sight quickly, it was easy to tell that she was a conflicted mother; she wanted to be a part of her granddaughter's life, and already loved her, but she couldn't get over the betrayal she felt when she looked at her own daughter, why had she been so stupid?_

_He saw Bessie and Jip hug each other. Bessie handed over the forget-me-not from her lapel. Jip said goodbye to Baby then she walked over to her father's car, and slipped through the door, held open by the driver. Father Richards could already tell, that girl would be spoilt, and everything she had promised would be placed to the back of her mind the moment they hit the motorway. Father Richards could tell that the girl had placed this life behind her already._

_Bessie stood with Baby in her arms, watching her best friend being driven away. Only she held faith that they would be together again someday. Bessie's new life began tomorrow, she would leave Baby at the church during the day; they ran a nursery, which allowed her to go out and get a job. She was pulling a part time one at the local supermarket; Bessie would be working in the clothing department, living in the clothing warehouse, making sure that the clothes were on hangers, and that the racks that were to go out at various times of the day contained the right items. And the other wasn't so legal; her next door neighbour had agreed to look after Baby for a few nights a week while Bessie went to her second job. The whorehouse had welcomed young flesh._

_Father Richards saw them walk away, and gave a silent prayer that one day Baby would get a better life._

It had taken a while but Ethan was finally in the ARC. Danny had arrived back, and they had been given a chance to talk, but the bad blood stayed between them. Danny had stormed out, and left Ethan or Patrick or whatever had was called to his thoughts.

Becker was back on active service, he'd had two weeks to recover, and had become somewhat at home with Jess. He was dreading the talk where he would end up going home, alone.

Emily continued to look after Izzie; but that morning she'd been watching over the little girl draw when Matt asked for a word. Izzie was gone when the two looked up to check on her. Apparently there was an anomaly back to Emily's time, and Matt had come to tell her that she could go home if she wanted to.

Izzie ran down the corridors looking for someone to talk to. She didn't want her Aunty Jess, she was all sad and boring. Abby was busy with the creatures and she didn't feel like talking with Rex. Connor was missing, and everyone seemed busy. She found an empty corridor and heard someone shouting in one of the rooms, she looked in, and saw only one man. He looked lonely, so swiping her bracelet she let herself in.

"I'm Izzie. Do you like my drawing?" She held it up.

"I'm Patrick." He smiled, "it's very pretty, do you have anymore?"

Izzie threw the papers on the table, and pulled out the pencils from her back pocket.

The two sat at the table, and Patrick helped Izzie with her drawing. By the time that Becker and Danny came running down the corridor; the paper was running out. Izzie was sat doodling, while Patrick was finishing of the picture for Izzie. Before the anomaly swallowed him up, he'd wanted a little sister, and Izzie was so sweet and lovely that he just had to keep her happy.

Izzie was taken back to Jess and Emily. All the pictures were in hands. She showed Jess and Emily the one Patrick had drawn. The picture of her, 'Sweet Little Izzie'.

Jess was sat at the ADD when Patrick escaped. She sent the message out and watched as he took a hold of Emily, and shot Becker twice. There wasn't anything she could do but run to his side. She called for a media using her headset, and ran as fast as her heels would let her.

No one saw Izzie follow Emily.


	11. Chapter 11

Jess spent her day sat beside Becker in the medical bay. She held his hand, just waiting, waiting for him to wake up. Praying for him to come back to her.

She sat and remembered all of those times that she'd gone to church. All the times she'd prayed for those who didn't need her. All of the times she'd wished her parents would stop arguing, all the times that she had asked God to show her mother that her father knew what he was doing when it came to looking after them. Her mind dropped back to the times when she would cut class and drop into the church just to talk to Father Richards; she missed being able to confide in the nice old man, the only one who wouldn't judge, and who would encourage her, the one who would help with her homework when her parents were too busy with the solicitors.

Matt and Danny had arrived at the prison, they found Emily tied up next to a knocked out creature. Izzie was sitting with her, being told off for following her, but Emily seemed too happy to be strict. They looked so much like mother and daughter it was scary. Danny ran through the anomaly which Emily pointed to; telling Matt about Helen Cutter and the possible connection to Philip Burton.

It took a moment for Matt to realise that it was only just Izzie, another Emily in this time wouldn't be good; she was a handful as it was. _But she was __**his**__ handful_ Matt had no idea where the thought had come from but he decided he liked it.

The job of letting Emily know that she could go home was left upon him. She looked to be dressed for it, but her mind was off in a different place. "You have your job to do. I know I can't stop you from doing that…"

"But?"

"If you want me to… I'll stay. I will stand by your side every step of the way. I should go. And I know I should. But I don't want to. There's so much more here, people who really care for me."

The anomaly started to fade, Emily turned to it. She pulled the wedding band from her finger and threw it into the anomaly; it was then that it closed properly.

"I may have married him, but I never loved him. I married to help my father and that was all. He knew it too. He had his mistresses and a son already. I was just the untouched trophy on the shelf." She looked at Matt, "don't make me regret staying. I'll help you, just let me in."

Matt smiled, pulling Emily into his embrace. "I'll tell you everything. Just give me a little bit of time. Let us sort everything out, and have you living somewhere other than the ARC, and I'll tell you it all." He promised, no crossed fingers, no half-truths. This time Matt felt he was right, not Gideon; maybe Emily would distract him, but she'd help him too. There was no point being the hero, if you were an unhappy lonely one. At the end of every story, the hero gets the girl, right?

Upon getting back to the ARC, Matt had a soldier carry Izzie, while he carried the sleeping Emily. The medics were asked to check over both of them; they couldn't get near Izzie before she woke up and ran to Jess' side. Emily woke up when Matt shook her gently; she tried to argue that she was just fine, but was convinced by Matt when he said it was for his peace of mind.

The sun was rising when Jess awoke. She'd fallen asleep on the edge of the bed. Looking up she noticed that someone had placed Izzie on the other bed in the room. Izzie was waking up too. She looked up and saw her Aunty Jess was awake. Sitting up she patted the side of the bed.

Jess gave Becker's hand a squeeze, before walking over to sit with Izzie. She pulled Izzie into a cuddle. "It's going to be alright."

"Is he coming back?" Izzie asked, looking towards Becker.

Jess didn't know how to answer. "I hope so." She looked thoughtful.

"Why?" Izzie seemed to be full of questions.

"Because I love him," Jess answered simply. "I don't know what I'd do if he wasn't around to smile, or bring in chocolate, nothing with orange though. He's like the main life force of the team; he keeps everybody together, and keeps us safe. There'll never be another Hilary Becker."

Becker could hear every word that Jess said. He should have opened his eyes and let them know he was waking up, but he wanted to know what _his_ girl was thinking. Jess was still telling Izzie all of the reasons why he should wake up, it was so sweet that she thought all of that of him. "I love you too, Jess." He whispered, before he could stop himself.

He knew Jess had heard him. She stopped midsentence. He could feel her coming closer, her touch lighting up the nerves under his skin. He opened his eyes to be looking back into hers.

"Izzie, go and get the medic."


	12. Chapter 12

The medics were adamant that Becker needed to stay under their watchful eye for the day, but that he should be discharged that evening. Jess took Izzie from the medical bay and they went to see Abby.

Izzie ran to play with Rex, the two had become fast friends; if Abby ever didn't want Rex anymore, Izzie would happily take him.

Jess sat down with Abby and a coffee. Abby looked worried, she seemed nervous, and was watching the door.

"Connor saw the news last night. He saw the piece about the woman, Elizabeth Badby. Apparently, she left a suicide note, claiming that she'd left her daughter in the hands of the woman who she really belonged to. The police across the country are worried for the girl. It was a good job you two stayed in here last night; getting her through London without being noticed would have been mission impossible."

"What is it that has you all in knots Abby?"

"I left the room last night, for no more than three minutes. In the time it took me to go to the loo, Connor had phoned the information line. He dropped you in it."

Jess's face fell. "It should all work out alright. You've got some legal right to her, and you've got the proof you were looking for Elizabeth."

Jess headed back to her desk, leaving Izzie with Abby and Rex. She hoped that she could get some work done, and stop panicking. It was unlikely that they'd find her at work; it was a secret government facility. Maybe she could leave the country with Izzie. They could move to Switzerland and hide out there; give it five years, Izzie could grow her hair out, and her face will have changed, they could come back as mother and daughter. Maybe Becker would go with them. Maybe she could take Abby and Connor. And Rex.

She was too busy planning out her new life, to notice Matt and the police officer come up behind her. "Jess," Matt said quietly, "Could you come to Lester's office?"

Jess knew that she had no other option but to follow. The police were involved and she was in their clutches, there was no running away now. Connor had really done a good job in turning her in, bringing her captors to the one place that she should have been able to stay and to sort things out.

The blinds were drawn over the windows of Lester's office. No one could see in, which meant no one could see out either. Jess went quietly, there was no point running, they'd catch up with her.

Inside stood Philip Burton, next to a police sergeant, and Lester sat at his desk, looking like someone had just destroyed his favourite suit. Jess took the seat which was indicated to her. She listened to all of their questions and accusations but was too scared to say a thing.

"_Why did you do it?" "Where did she tell you she was?" "Why are you not saying anything?" "She needs our help, tell us how to find her." "Why are you protecting her Miss Parker? She's never cared for you." "Where is Elizabeth?" "Did she tell you who the father was?" "Why did she do it?" "Where is he?" "How do you suppose we help Elizabeth, if you won't help us?"_

_Jip stayed quiet through all the questions. She was too scared by the teachers to answer, And she didn't really know how to answer the questions. Bessie was in a new place every time she wanted to meet. All the teachers wanted to do was cover __**his **__back; keep __**him**__ safe, because Bessie was just 'another tart, up the duff'._


	13. Chapter 13

The sergeant motioned to his companion to cuff Jess. She looked up to see Lester stare at him, "No."

"Jess, tell us what happened. From the beginning of everything, not just this bit. I feel it runs deeper than just recently." Lester said, and Jess looked at him.

Jess focused on Lester, he seemed to be the only friendly, and trust worthy face in the room.

"Elizabeth Badby was my school friend." She began, "we were best friends, and did everything together. But when I was given a place on the fast track project we were split up.

"I had the worst of teachers. The university professor wasn't nice. He would teach me but would come too close when I needed something explaining, put his arm around me when he looked over my work, and comment on my uniform in a very crude way.

"Bessie and I were at her uncle's pub on night. And he was there. Bessie left me to go to the toilets, and he started coming on to me. Whispering how he wished he could…" she kept her eyes on Lester, but the wall around her emotions was breaking down, "he whispered about how… how he wished he could… he told me how he'd fantasized about taking me over his desk, in the back of his car, anywhere. I was getting distressed when Bessie came back and pulled me from his grasp.

"Next thing I know, Bessie is telling me that she's sorted everything. A kind of pay off. All she wanted me to do was to keep this secret along with the rest from her mother. It turned out Bessie had gone back to the pub that night, after dropping me off home. She'd agreed to take my place. We'd always looked similar, and she'd told him that she'd pretend to be me.

"Bessie then got bitchy and cruel. For my birthday, she took a dig at me. Buying gifts that she knew my mother would flip at, and hinting that I should have been screwing the professor. It got to the point when I couldn't take it. I went to live with daddy for a few weeks; he was away on business, but the flat had spare rooms, and he welcomed me. I told him everything, and he promised to take it to the grave.

"Daddy and I went home together, and everything got better for a bit. It was like Bessie had missed me. I got a boyfriend when I got back, and it was fun. We went to another party at the pub, and my boyfriend left me for some other woman. I sat in the corner, drinking the orange juices that I knew had half shots of vodka in them. It was Bessie's uncle's way of making me feel better and I didn't mind. It was that night that I couldn't find my friend anywhere so went outside for a smoke. I found her in a compromising situation with one of the bar patrons.

"When Bessie told me a few weeks later she was pregnant, I thought she meant to the bloke who was just a quickie down the alley. She made me promise to help her. But told me no more.

"After Izzie's birth, Bessie told me everything. The baby belonged to the professor, but he wanted nothing to do with her or the baby, so she was going to go it alone. In telling me this she also demanded that I be the girl's godmother, because she was 'truthfully mine'. Bessie had taken my place, and pretended to be me; therefore her child should be mine. She even named Izzie after me; her full name is Isabella, which was as close to my middle name, Isobel, as Bessie would get without risking losing me.

"My parents were in the middle of a divorce, and during the time between Izzie being born and her being christened, I gave up smoking, and told the court I was going to live with daddy. He only lived in the city, but compared to the suburbs it was a breath of fresh air. The day I left she gave me the flower from her lapel, a forget-me-not; I threw it from the window as soon as we were out of sight of the church. She may have been my friend, but I was prepared to leave it all behind.

"I thought if she couldn't find me then it would all go away. I applied for this job, knowing that being a part of the government would make it that bit more difficult for her to trace me, especially when the organisation is secret. The only thing that I didn't think of was the flat. It's the same one I shared with daddy, he had the deeds signed over when he went to live in the Americas with my step-mother.

"On my day off, about two months ago, I woke up to a cardboard box that was screaming. Izzie was inside with a letter. – Jess pulled it out of her bra and placed it on the desk along with the more recent one, - Bessie couldn't cope anymore so was bringing in my help. I spent the week trying to track her down. And when I found her mobile number I phoned her, threatened Social Services for Izzie if she didn't come home, even threatened her with her mother. Bessie never thought I could get far in life because no one would want my smarts.

"I kept bringing Izzie into work, and my flat mates got to know her. Even though it was Connor who called you. I had to tell everything to Abby, because she was about to freak, and then I had to tell Hil, because I love him, and the secret nearly took him from me. Izzie settled in, and she's like a little sister in a sense. But I kept hoping that Bessie would come home.

"I heard something on the radio the other day. A woman in Brighton found dead, but yet to be identified. I didn't think the two were connected. And the report last night I missed because Izzie and I spent the night in the medical bay waiting for Hilary to wake up. Izzie was so happy when he did; I didn't think a three year old could jump so high. She was there giving him a cuddle before I could walk across the room." Jess smiled, but it quickly faded, she turned to the police sergeant, "I've probably done so many things wrong, but I just wanted to give my friend one last chance. I didn't realise she would kill herself."

"It's okay Miss. We just had to make sure that you were who the documents said you were, and your friend seemed dreadfully worried." The sergeant spoke calmly. "Izzie will have to stay in your care, until we find someone who is her kin, you could adopt her, though your friend Emily seems to be enamoured with the little girl."

"Emily started looking after her when Hilary was injured, there was no one else. It seems the soldiers adore the pair; I've had so many requests to get them to have another day baking that I don't know what to do." Lester interrupted, "Jess, maybe Emily will adopt her, she's decided she's staying with Matt, and I'm sure that the pair would give her a good home. Or even Abby and Connor; they took such good care of her at the wedding."

"I don't know. I think Old Mrs Badby should have the first call. She's her grandmother after all." Jess contemplated.

"I'm sorry Miss Parker." The sergeant explained, "Mrs Badby died earlier in the year, you have the choice to keep Izzie or send her into the Care System."

_Fin_


End file.
